Newcastle’s new Brazilian restaurant Cabana will be giving back to the needy in the South American country.

The company, which opens its Toon branch in the old Cooperative building in Newgate Street next week, sources much of its materials from Brazil’s poorest communities.

It’s co-owner David Ponte’s way of giving back something to the country he was born in and adding extra Brazilian authenticity to the restaurant.

“There’s really amazing stuff being made and we really want to use it. It is being made by needs-must people, needing to earn a living and there’ some amazing creativity and artistry,” he says.

Cabana will feature seating lined with old Brazilian made jeans, with little treats for diners in the denim pockets.

“Paraisopolis is the biggest havela in Sao Paolo and we came across this little recycled jeans charity where they collect old jeans in the community and then patch them together,” explains David.

“This project supports a little school in the community. They collect jeans, sew them together for us, they’ve never made upholstery before but they sew them together and send them to us and we use them throughout the Cabanas.

Cabana, which is opening at the old Cooperative Building in Newcastle

“We noticed when we first opened people kept putting their hands in the jeans pockets so now, if you are lucky, there should be little cards in the pockets and if you find them there are special offers in them.

Some Cabana outlets also feature extraordinary cushions. “They are made from more than 2,000 ring pulls off cans collected in the street given to women in jail in Brasilia and they sew them together for us and we buy them and we love them.

“It’s other example of the amazing creativity from this whole up-cycling movement. It then goes on to support little projects in the community.

“There’s a lost generation of kids in Brazil and we need to help them to break this cycle, particularly in the drug driven crime communities.”